Iranian women’s group empowers amid pandemic by making face masks

Elaheh Rahimi embroiders at a workshop of Bavar charity in Tehran, Iran (Vahid Salemi/AP)

As the coronavirus pandemic ravages Iran, home to the Middle East’s worst outbreak, a women’s group hopes to empower its members by helping them make and sell face masks.

The organisation, called Bavar (belief in Farsi), was formed in 2016, allowing women looking for work to make handicrafts with donated sewing machines.